The roaches, spiders, and dung beetles of the world can face a real uphill–or up anthill–battle as they navigate the big world. Their small stature makes them an easy target for squishing and they have many natural predators. Humans also view these organisms as generally less charismatic than larger and more furry critters. Our evolutionary bias makes us fear for our safety around bugs. In turn, these organisms are often sadly left behind in conservation efforts.
[Related: Why small, scary, and ‘non-charismatic’ lost species are harder to rediscover.]
“One of the reasons why we find them less charismatic is because on that evolutionary tree, they are relatively distant from us,” entomologist Tim Cockerill tells PopSci. “Our instinct is to say that insects and bugs in general are very different from us. But it’s the other way around. We’re the weird ones in terms of the diversity of animals on planet Earth.”
If you added all of the species of birds, amphibians, fish, reptiles, and mammals together, it would not be close to the over one million known insect species that live on planet Earth.
To film bugs, you must know bugs
The new docuseries A Real Bug’s Life on Disney+ is trying to change this perspective by showcasing the world’s insects and arachnids in some stellar new light. Narrated by actor Awkwafina, National Geographic’s new five-part series is inspired by the world of the 1998 Disney and Pixar animated children’s film A Bug’s Life and shows us the high stakes, real-life world of some of our planet’s smallest animals and what it takes for them to survive. The series brings viewers to New York City, a Costa Rican jungle, a backyard in suburban Texas, the African savanna, and a farm in Britain to see how familiar and more unique bugs live, eat, and get around.
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